The villain that almost wasn't, a Bond girl auditioning in her kitchen and the theme tune that took 20 minutes to write: 12 fascinating facts about the making of Spectre
- The latest James Bond film, Spectre, has smashed box office records
- The 24th in the series took more than £53m in the first week alone in the UK
- The thrilling film stars Daniel Craig, Lea Seydoux and Naomie Harris
- It took a huge crew, months of hard work and millions of pounds to make
- Here are the astonishing facts behind the making of the movie behemoth
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Spectre has just been revealed to have had the most successful UK box office opening ever of a British film, raking in more than £53m in the first week. The James Bond film (the 24th in the franchise) has easily smashed records since it was unleashed on cinemas on October 26, and it's no surprise.
Months upon months of tireless efforts from director Sam Mendes, the talented cast (of well over 1,500) and enormous crew, and millions of pounds spent across five stunning, key locations have made this latest 007 outing perhaps the most spectacular yet.
But what really goes into creating a movie behemoth like Spectre to make it an unmissable one to watch? How many people are needed to work on the all-important opening scene of a Bond film?
How do the actors land their coveted roles? How do the locals get involved when their worlds are turned upside-down with location filming? And just how much is spent on blowing up luxury cars for mere seconds of screen-time?
Here are the astonishing truths behind the making of this year's most talked about film...
The making of a behemoth: The latest James Bond film Spectre - starring leading man Daniel Craig - reportedly cost $250m to create, meaning it's in the top 10 most expensive films of all time
1. NO EXPENSE SPARED
Spectre is the longest of all the Bond movies, at two hours 28 minutes long, and it had the biggest budget of all the Bond movies, too. While its predecessor Skyfall had a reported total budget of $200m, Spectre's was $250m (£160m).
Still, it has landed a place in the top 10 most expensive movies of all time, along with the blockbuster likes of Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($378.5m), and The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies ($250m).
2. INJURED HERO
It's not easy being James Bond, something leading man Daniel Craig has learnt the hard way. Earlier this year, the 47-year-old was flown away from the film's set in Austria to undergo an operation on his knee, which had previously been badly damaged.
Production on Spectre was only held up for two weeks, though, as its British star was determined not to delay the film and its eventual release any more.
Ouch! Craig, 47, has admitted that he has been seriously injured while playing 007, and earlier this year was flown out of Austria to have surgery on his knee, halting filming for two weeks
And his knee wasn't the only part of him that has been left hurting as a result of starring as MI6's most valuable asset.
'I hurt myself every day,' he confessed to Graham Norton. 'I've had my right shoulder re-constructed, my right and left knees operated on and my thumb hurts!'
3. A LUXURY CAR DESIGNED AND BUILT JUST FOR BOND
Aston Martin marked its 50-year partnership with Bond by creating the incredibly slick DB10, a car just for the big screen: not one is available for sale.
Designed for Spectre, just 10 bespoke cars were built for filming with eight used in the film, while the final two were manufactured for promotional use.
Two of the on-camera motors were fully-functional stunt cars kitted with roll cages which were used for the action sequences, while others were used for close-up shots of both Daniel behind the wheel, and the car's futuristic gadgets.
Speedy additions: Aston Martin marked its 50-year partnership with the Bond films by creating a bespoke car, the DB10, for the film only, with just 10 in total being manufactured
4. RECORD-BREAKINGLY EXPENSIVE CRASHES… TO THE TUNE OF £24M
A whopping £24m worth of cars were destroyed during the making of Spectre, including seven of the Aston Martin DB10s. The streamlined silver stunner was involved in a thrilling car chase through Rome, in which it was followed by a Jaguar C-X75, and came perilously close to The Vatican.
In terms of timing, it took 18 nights over the course of three weeks to shoot the scene in its entirety. To add to that, Land Rovers were engulfed in flames in the scenes in Austria on the side of a snowy mountain, after one typically James Bond-style land and air pursuit.
Speaking to Event magazine, chief stunt co-ordinator Gary Powell, divulged: 'We set the record for smashing up cars on Spectre. In Rome, we wrecked millions of pounds worth. They were going into the Vatican at top speeds of 110 mph.
'We shot one entire night for four seconds of film.'
'We set the record for smashing up cars': Chief stunt co-ordinator Gary Powell confessed that the amount of cars they destroyed ran into millions, with reports claiming up to £24MILLION-worth of cars were written off
5. AUDITIONING AMONG THE COOKWARE
Mexican actress Stephanie Sigman, who appears as the dazzling and distracting Estrella during the Day of the Dead scene at the start of the film, landed the role after impressing Mendes with her rather bizarre audition, conducted from her kitchen.
'I got a camera and did an audition in my kitchen with a friend,' she explained in an interview with the Evening Standard. 'I did what I thought was right, then they called me after a month and said the director Sam Mendes wanted to meet me in Mexico City.'
The actress was overwhelmed when she learned she had landed the role, a particular coup considering she only began to learn to speak English two years ago.
Bond girls: Lea Seydoux (left) admitted she had to audition for a second time after not performing well in her first, while Mexican actress Stephanie Sigman (right) conducted hers for director Sam Mendes in her kitchen
6. SECOND TIME LUCKY FOR LEA
New Bond girl Lea Seydoux, who stars opposite Daniel as Bond's accomplice and love interest Dr. Madeleine Swann, almost lost out on the part after flailing in her first audition. Thanks to her inner doubts, the 30-year-old French actress blundered her way through the trial run, after having enjoyed an alcoholic beverage.
Speaking to the Daily Mail's Event magazine, she said: 'The first audition took place at a hotel in Paris…. I arrived very early and I was nervous so I drank a little beer to relax myself.
'When it was time for my audition, my face was bright red and I forgot my lines. It wasn't a success. In fact it was a failure.'
She went on: 'That made me very sad but I asked if I could audition a second time. After that, they asked if I could meet Sam Mendes at his office in London. I think he really liked me.'
7. MAGNIFICENT MEXICO
Spectre opens with the visually stunning and jam-packed Day of the Dead scene in Mexico. And it was certainly no mean feat, with a whopping 1,520 extras used to create the mass crowd in Mexico City's Tolsa Square and Zocolo Square, settings for the airborne helicopter fracas between Bond and his nemesis.
A HUGE effort: For the opening scene in Mexico city, during the Day of the Dead festival, more than 1,500 extras were used, each of whom wore a different outfit - and the entire scene took FIVE MONTHS to prepare
For every day of filming, the extras (none of whom were clad in identical costumes; every single one was unique) would take three and a half hours to be prepared by more than 100 make-up artists.
And it was such a huge task, the crew initiated a 'traffic light' system with the mirrors, to ensure that every single person was prompt and that no time was wasted. But the most staggering detail of all is that the Mexico opening scene took five months to prepare, for just a few minutes' screen-time.
8. MAKING MUSIC… INCREDIBLY QUICKLY
A Bond film isn't a Bond film without its soundtrack. It took Sam Smith just 20 minutes to pen his epic tune, Writing's On The Wall, something he gladly boasted after it was finally revealed he was the man behind the music, despite months of denying he was linked to it.
'It's the quickest I've ever written a song - it took 20 minutes... and they loved it!' the 23-year-old confessed in a chat with BBC Radio 1's Nick Grimshaw. And it had a lasting effect, as Sam was both the first male British solo artist to record a Bond song in 50 years, and the first person ever to top the charts with one.
Clever chap: Sam Smith wrote the Bond theme tune Writing's On The Wall in just 20 minutes... and it became the first ever theme tune for the film franchise to reach the top spot on the charts
9. SHUTTING DOWN THE CAPITAL
Although it's a global film, much of Spectre is based in London, notably along the River Thames and outside the iconic MI5 building. And earlier this year, one of the most famous parts of town, Westminster Bridge, with sweeping views of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, was shut down so that one of the movie's most spectacular moments could be shot.
One of the main thoroughfares through the city was turned into a smoky, action-packed scene with a crashed helicopter and 'bloodied' actors. Other parts of London were left at a standstill as filming commenced over the summer months, with Lambeth Bridge, Trafalgar Square, The Mall and Whitehall all closed down.
10. A NEAR MISS
Christoph Waltz makes his Bond debut as the chillingly serene Franz Oberhauser, the villain at the helm of SPECTRE, the organisation that was first introduced in 1962's Dr. No, and throughout the franchise in a handful of other movies.
But it almost didn't happen, as the two-time Oscar winner had some serious doubts over taking on the role of the latest Bond baddie. In an interview with GQ magazine, when asked if he hesitated over the job, he said: 'I did, yes.'
He explained further: 'I always hesitate... You ask yourself, hang on: what James Bond are we talking about?
The villain that almost wasn't: Christoph Waltz portrays Bond's latest nemesis Franz Oberhauser, but he confessed he hesitated before taking up the role, and almost turned it down
'The thing about Spectre is that it is not the work of hack writers. It does not have a hack director. The actors are not hams.'
However, luckily for the producers of the film and fans, he stuck to it, also revealing that he didn't even have to audition as the role was written especially for him.
'Let's say it was tweaked in my direction,' he confessed.
11. LET IT SNOW
One of the most visually stimulating parts of Spectre is the wintry scene in Austria, filmed in three nearby locations, Lake Altaussee, Obertilliach and Sölden. But unfortunately, the climate in that part of the world was unseasonably warm at the time, meaning the usually snowy mountains and landscape were not ready for filming.
Filmmakers had to manufacture a mammoth 400 tonnes of fake snow to cover the hillsides before the cameras could start rolling.
They've got the white idea: Producers on Spectre were forced to bring in a whopping 400 tonnes of fake snow to film scenes in Austria, as it was unseasonably warm when they shot the epic snow-drenched scenes
Special effects organiser Chris Corbould said: 'Initially in Austria, there was no ice or snow. All our preparations were delayed and we had to travel quite a few miles to a different location to test the plane rigs and skiddoos.'
12. DESERT DIFFICULTIES
Local nomads and members of nearby tribes were hired as guides and security guards when production moved to the Sahara desert after scenes had been shot in Tangier, Morocco. One afternoon filming had to be cancelled because of a massive 50mph sand storm.
To add to the challenges of shooting in one of the world's most dangerous landscapes, temperature on the hottest day of filming reached 50 degrees Celsius.
But the most impressive part of the whole part of filming in the Sahara was the epic explosion that took place: it has made it into the Guinness World Records as the largest film stunt explosion ever!
It's dry out there: Production ran into problems in the Sahara, when soaring temperatures and a sand storm left them unable to film - they also utilised local nomads to help out as guides and security during shooting
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